wonky techno massif

[conflict]

what happened to this style, havent heard it mentioned in ages

or maybe i'm being ignorant?

fill me in ppl

[TechMouse]

Esther Ofei at next Filth.

[mattboyslim]

Esther Ofei at next Filth.snorted. what date? dj set or live?

[FUSION]

cant beat a bit o wonk

[crime]

what happened to this style, havent heard it mentioned in ages

or maybe i'm being ignorant?

fill me in ppl

What happened to this style was, the moment it became named, people started trying to make "Wonky" music, instead of just trying to make music they liked and it all went contrived and shit..
Personally, I hate this "Label", good techno is good techno, period... and doesn't have to be called something other than techno just because it doesn't sound like the 10 billion xerox copy loop trax that are out there that djs buy because they are easy to mix...

Sorry for the rant, but I really hate the pidgeonhole "wonky", and I really hate the way music sometimes seems to have to be classified for people to understand it...

rant over :rambo: sorry about that


I don't know if I'm still stereotyped as wonky (wanky, anyone?) but I have 2 new e.p.s coming on 2 new labels from germany:

Mark Hawkins "Postmodern Parody Religion e.p." (Pristine) Distr by Still Music
Mark Hawkins "Life in the 030" (Kitty Corner) Distr. by Possible

Bigger things in the pipeline also & my live set from Maria, Berlin to go online over the next week....
Sorry for the self promotional blah also :blush:

[crime]

Esther Ofei at next Filth.

Bit too facile to call Esther "wonky".. she plays hard chicago techno, Booty, Birmingham sound and Brighton/Edinburgh sounding stuff with a bit of chicago house thrown in... not a whole sets of Miditonal... ;)

[robin m]

I don't like genre-ising and sub-sub-genre-ising of techno at all either, it's all just techno. Having said that I quite like 'wonky' - for me it's a suitable name when doing my mental filing for stuff that dares to step away from 4-4 plod and dj-friendly production.

I don't think the rush of people trying to make 'wonky' techno can be blamed on the term they were giving it, it's more a problem with the mindset that wants to make music to fit a particular genre rather than just making music they want to make and not caring what pigeonhole other people try to cram it into. Same thing with schranz, stupid name given to a particular sound by someone as a throwaway thing and give it a few months people are trying to make 'schranz' tunes... that's the problem I think.

Mind you I've not had the self-appointed genre-police calling everything I do 'wonky' for years without listening to it, which presumably you have, crime... that might change my point of view a bit :nono:

[robin m]

...anyway who gives one about other people's pointless labels, as long as the likes of subhead, tim wright, esther, benavente, landstrumm, torsten kanzler etc keep on kicking it I don't give a flying f*ck what section of the record shop people stick their tunes in.

[crime]

With the greatest respect to Torsten, I wouldn't say what he does sounds like anyone else you mentioned above there.. And my point is about the wonky tab, was it wasn't util that came along that loads of half baked stuff started coming about by people saying "I make wonky techno".. Vogel, Landstrumm, Begg, schmidt etc had their own sound from the mid 90s, which was often played alongside the likes of Advent, Surgeon, Colddust, Jay Denham etc, and it was all mixed up, much like what I play today when I dj, the problem started when people became obsessed with the loop based stuff and couldn't be bothered to look outside that narrow remit... If you look at the linups of early uglyfunk parties (going back to Nottingham/Leicester days) Oliver Ho, Space DJz and Coldust were playing there as well as Subhead, Landstrumm and everybody else
Now you get a load of people in East germany cranking up the bpms to 150 plus and calling it wonky just because they put some stupid sounds/samples into it and set the swing quantise to 70 % (Which incidentally DOESN'T automatically make it funky, good drum programming is what makes shit funky), and I don't think it fair to lump in the amazing music that Vogel, Landstrumm and many others are making with the crap that's getting called "Wonky" these days.. it's tainted the term (which I rapidly went off once people tried to adhear to a genre), it's like calling Ben Sims Schranz.. Maybe it shouldn't bother me, but it does as I watched the whole thing unfold over the past few years, and I feel it's an injustice to try and classify what for instance Neil is making as "wonky" (freak bass and bleeps maybe??), when people are going to read that and think it's the same as Miditonal.. I mean what's innovative about hitting a keyboard randomly and distorting everything far too much? The end result is people who have never heard my music thinking that it's like the stupid stuff on the one hand, and then all these supposed "Wonky techno" fans being annoyed when they here my live show and I'm not hard enough for them on the other.. I understand your reasoning to a degree Robin, but I find the name "Wonky" just as offensive as some people find "Schranz".. it makes a lot of people switch off before they have even listened (but maybe I should blame their own predjudices for that eh?)

[crime]

Respect to Conflict anyhow for posting something about "interesting Techno" even if I don't like the adjective he used...
There is some new Lanstrumm/Youngman collabs in the pipeline I believe..
and I think a new input output V/A on the way
and I might even find a home for my "13 Years of Raving" thing w/ Tarrida remix one of these days....

[theledge]

I think its unavoidable to a point...people naturally categorize music especially when they really like something...they put a label on it as if to say this is really cool i want to hear more and before you know it everyones talking about it and its a new subgenre to them

i just try to ignore it all myself its either good music thatd work on my dancefloor or its not and thats all there is to it to me

Loadsa subgenres is boring and limiting

[rotten]

Now you get a load of people in East germany cranking up the bpms to 150 plus and calling it wonky just because they put some stupid sounds/samples into it and set the swing quantise to 70 % (Which incidentally DOESN'T automatically make it funky, good drum programming is what makes shit funky), and I don't think it fair to lump in the amazing music that Vogel, Landstrumm and many others are making with the crap that's getting called "Wonky" these days..


WOOOORRRRD!!! ;)

[holotropik]

fark...i never knew that there was a term called wonky techno.
shit'eh...learn sumthin new everyday.

[crime]

fark...i never knew that there was a term called wonky techno.
shit'eh...learn sumthin new everyday.

Forget that you learned it... please...

[TechMouse]

Esther Ofei at next Filth.snorted. what date? dj set or live?

2nd Septeber... and pass.

[TechMouse]

Esther Ofei at next Filth.

Bit too facile to call Esther "wonky".. she plays hard chicago techno, Booty, Birmingham sound and Brighton/Edinburgh sounding stuff with a bit of chicago house thrown in... not a whole sets of Miditonal... ;)

Fair do's Mark.

I think I was broadly categorising all the acts we have at Filth fitting somewhere in the middle of a "Techno Triangle" with "Hard", "Acid" and "Wonk" at the corners.

Esther (and your good self) are probably nearest to the "Wonk" corner - but of course we all know there's more to both of you than mere labels.

[crime]

Fair do's Mark.

I think I was broadly categorising all the acts we have at Filth fitting somewhere in the middle of a "Techno Triangle" with "Hard", "Acid" and "Wonk" at the corners.

Esther (and your good self) are probably nearest to the "Wonk" corner - but of course we all know there's more to both of you than mere labels.


Argh!! Please don't associate me with this name, I hate it!! :mad: we are nothing to do with Wonk, the more I read the name, the more I think it's so shitty.. wonkers....

[TechMouse]

I'll get you a T-Shirt printed for next time you're over.

[crime]

please listen to my Maria live act from last weekend when it's up... then you might start to see what I'm saying, Miditonal et al can have the "Wonky techno" tag, they are welcome to it, but again we get the association, which means everyone thinks we sound like Miditonal, which personally, I'm not into.. when you look at the original remit of techno (jeff mills saying crap like "Techno is sounds you never heard before") a lot of the stuff that gets lumped in with "Wonky" sticks to that remit far more than the repetitive shite that many people stick in the "Normal techno" pidgeon hole.... the more times I see my name and many others associated with wonky, the more I hate it, how about if we call everyone who makes straight techno "Schranz" eh?

[crime]

I'll get you a T-Shirt printed for next time you're over.

I'll be at victoria coach station on saturday, maybe you can drop it to me then? ;) I'm actually in the UK with my live gear right now, I thought I would be unavailable at the weekend, but typically plans change... so I end up in the UK with my gear, not making the most of it... :mad:

[TechMouse]

How does "Wonk if you like Techno" sound...?

[crime]

"Honk if you wonk" maybe? that could be better as a bumper sticker....

[crime]

Landstrumm is releasing stuff on Planet Mu soon I think BTW...

[Sunil]

Landstrumm is releasing stuff on Planet Mu soon I think BTW...

Yeah, September 11th is the release date I think.

[module]

i used to tell ppl i played 'wonky wacky spiky' techno.. meaning vogel, begg, schmidt etc.. but i always jus used the word in a descriptive manner, not as a label.

i used those words cos they described the sound.. which i always thought of as brittle & spiky & totally opposed to the 'dj tool' ethic..

the music is, and always has, been there, jus like mnml.. different vibes jus go thru different phases of popularity & media focus.

[module]

hardtec.. hardgroove.. schranz.. wonk.. mnml..

its all techmo imo.. jus different strains. i think ppl get waaay too caught up in the tagging as opposed to the music..

[TechMouse]

"Honk if you wonk" maybe? that could be better as a bumper sticker....
Massive potential for mis-reading...

[TechMouse]

Landstrumm is releasing stuff on Planet Mu soon I think BTW...
Ooooh, Grimey stuff?

[thetonewrecka]

Herky Jerky
Swing Swung
Chutes and Ladders
Push Pull
Nausea Noodling
Beatmatching None
mislabeled nonsense.

ridiculous.

Music is music was music will be music

[crime]

Herky Jerky
Swing Swung
Chutes and Ladders
Push Pull
Nausea Noodling
Beatmatching None
mislabeled nonsense.

ridiculous.

Music is music was music will be music

word

[thetonewrecka]

Uh oh...Mark are you getting all Cameo now? WORD UP...It's the code word!

[crime]

heheheh

[MARKEG]

have you noticed how easy ppl leech onto a sound and name. i absolutely HATED when acid house died in 89 and for me this was because too many ppl leeched onto it and it lost its real meaning. i was destroyed when i walked into the record shop one day and someone said 'oh no, no-one's making that anymore'. i've seen the same with schranz and because i'm such a hard techno freak, it's all happened again in a slightly different way. as mark said so well, landstrumm and the like were all playing alongside your more loopy techno dj's at one time and to me and many others, it's all one of the same thing.

unfortunately the media, the clubs, the whole bloody indistry need labels. shame that this is the biggest contribution to fashion and as such, is the biggest destroyer of music :(

*mark walks off all negative and wants to kill the music industry*

:lol:

[thetonewrecka]

I always thought that Kenny "everybody cut Footloose" Loggins was the biggest destroyer of music. Hmmm. maybe that's just me.

[crime]

too many ppl leeched onto it and it lost its real meaning.

this is the point... when these labels first get coined, it's not so much of a problem, the real problem is when people start trying to fit into the genre, and are scared of doing anything different, because it doesn't "fit in"... my other point is the artists that are supposedly "wonky" are far too diverse musically to fit under one umbrella term.. I mean, do you really think Neil Landstrumm sounds like Cannibal Cooking club? or Cristian Vogel sounds like Miditonal?? because to my ears they sound completely different....

[rotten]

well it's too simple actually, neil and christian = originals, legends ... ccc and miditonal = trying to make profit off the originals works. ok that's maybe a bit harsh but if you look on midis' sales and the fact that any record sounds the same...

[crime]

well it's too simple actually, neil and christian = originals, legends ... ccc and miditonal = trying to make profit off the originals works. ok that's maybe a bit harsh but if you look on midis' sales and the fact that any record sounds the same...

yes, but the latter sound nothing like the former..

[wrong]

I'd say miditonal and ccc have both been influenced by landstrumm, vogel, subhead et all but crossed that sound with hard as nails beats and made it more formulated and easier to fit into harder techno sets, definately made their own sound from it though. ~For me, it works, especially some of the stuff on miditonal, its totally different to vogel, landstrumm etc. although there are parallells with the brown by august/peacefrog ep's of neils but definately not in the same sub-division-pigeon-hole.
Mark, you shouldn't get so worked up about the tags that get put on music, those who know...know , and for those who don't, it acts as a rough pointer if you're navigating through recordshops or just trying to find stuff you like. And if people're too narrow minded to look outside of one type of music then thats their choice/problem.

[TechMouse]

the real problem is when people start trying to fit into the genre, and are scared of doing anything different, because it doesn't "fit in"... my other point is the artists that are supposedly "wonky" are far too diverse musically to fit under one umbrella term..
Perhaps I'm missing the point, but isn't "not fitting in" practically impossible with wonky techno?

It's more of an ethose of experimentation and randomness than a specific stylistic genre, IMHO.

[thetonewrecka]

hmm...I like to think of it as "normal" techno is just a train going down the tracks with some different sounds sitting in it's cargo boxes behind.
The best Wanky or Wonky or whatever you care to call it is a Rodeo bull trying to throw the sounds off it's back as it spins around, but somehow the rider just stays on for the duration even if it's just by a dislocated shoulder and hand that is roped in while the rest of his (or her) body gets tossed all around.

[crime]

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but isn't "not fitting in" practically impossible with wonky techno?

it happens in east germany...

[TechMouse]

hmm...I like to think of it as "normal" techno is just a train going down the tracks with some different sounds sitting in it's cargo boxes behind.
The best Wanky or Wonky or whatever you care to call it is a Rodeo bull trying to throw the sounds off it's back as it spins around, but somehow the rider just stays on for the duration even if it's just by a dislocated shoulder and hand that is roped in while the rest of his (or her) body gets tossed all around.
Dude, you've got a serious talent for encapsulating concepts in language.

[TechMouse]

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but isn't "not fitting in" practically impossible with wonky techno?

it happens in east germany...

Well, what doesn't?

[crime]

Mark, you shouldn't get so worked up about the tags that get put on music, those who know...know , and for those who don't, it acts as a rough pointer if you're navigating through recordshops or just trying to find stuff you like. And if people're too narrow minded to look outside of one type of music then thats their choice/problem.

I know, J I know... just you know and I know how innocent comments get blown out of proportion if you know what I mean.. ;) and personally, I don't dig the whole east german "wonky" sound, you know, where I get booked for a party, and the first dj is banging it out at @150 bpm telling me how they love Wonky techno.. it starts to wear a bit thin after a while.. and it has happened, people trying to "make wonky techno", I think that's what bugs me really, and being lumped in to a bunch of people making really plastic sounding shitty tracks with no funk soul or feeling....

[crime]

hmm...I like to think of it as "normal" techno is just a train going down the tracks with some different sounds sitting in it's cargo boxes behind.
The best Wanky or Wonky or whatever you care to call it is a Rodeo bull trying to throw the sounds off it's back as it spins around, but somehow the rider just stays on for the duration even if it's just by a dislocated shoulder and hand that is roped in while the rest of his (or her) body gets tossed all around.
Dude, you've got a serious talent for encapsulating concepts in language.

I think paul should write all my release sheets from now on..
Man, you should be doing vocals on your trax with words like that :D

[crime]

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but isn't "not fitting in" practically impossible with wonky techno?

it happens in east germany...

Well, what doesn't?

mixing up the best of the old with the best of the new, and saying "fu ck the pidgeon holes"? ok, maybe it does sometimes, but it's a rare occasion these days....(Rotten, I include you in those rare occasions, you know the score ;) )

[thetonewrecka]

Dude, you've got a serious talent for encapsulating concepts in language.

Well thanks, but not really, but I've got a talent compacting a vegetable based lunch into some toxic fumes for my co-workers to experience at the end of the day...much to their dismay.

@crime.
Write me a song about this theme.

"All aboard the monkey train, nobody rides for free."

[TechMouse]

Dude, you've got a serious talent for encapsulating concepts in language.

Well thanks, but not really, but I've got a talent compacting a vegetable based lunch into some toxic fumes for my co-workers to experience at the end of the day...much to their dismay.

Zing.

[The Overfiend]

Techno is techno.
Most of the people here discussing "wonky" techno produce far better techno than say some that criticize "wonky' to begin with.

[Scott Kemix]

I don't like genre-ising and sub-sub-genre-ising of techno at all either, it's all just techno. Having said that I quite like 'wonky' - for me it's a suitable name when doing my mental filing for stuff that dares to step away from 4-4 plod and dj-friendly production.

I don't think the rush of people trying to make 'wonky' techno can be blamed on the term they were giving it, it's more a problem with the mindset that wants to make music to fit a particular genre rather than just making music they want to make and not caring what pigeonhole other people try to cram it into. Same thing with schranz, stupid name given to a particular sound by someone as a throwaway thing and give it a few months people are trying to make 'schranz' tunes... that's the problem I think.

Mind you I've not had the self-appointed genre-police calling everything I do 'wonky' for years without listening to it, which presumably you have, crime... that might change my point of view a bit :nono:

totally agree! Wonky or not its just techno

[rowland the bastard]

what happened to this style, havent heard it mentioned in ages

or maybe i'm being ignorant?

fill me in ppl

What happened to this style was, the moment it became named, people started trying to make "Wonky" music, instead of just trying to make music they liked and it all went contrived and shit..
Personally, I hate this "Label", good techno is good techno, period... and doesn't have to be called something other than techno just because it doesn't sound like the 10 billion xerox copy loop trax that are out there that djs buy because they are easy to mix...

Sorry for the rant, but I really hate the pidgeonhole "wonky", and I really hate the way music sometimes seems to have to be classified for people to understand it...

rant over :rambo: sorry about that


I don't know if I'm still stereotyped as wonky (wanky, anyone?) but I have 2 new e.p.s coming on 2 new labels from germany:

Mark Hawkins "Postmodern Parody Religion e.p." (Pristine) Distr by Still Music
Mark Hawkins "Life in the 030" (Kitty Corner) Distr. by Possible

Bigger things in the pipeline also & my live set from Maria, Berlin to go online over the next week....
Sorry for the self promotional blah also :blush:

:cheese: maybe you should of called them " this is wonky vol1 and 2"

hiya mark long time mate :cheese:

[djfurness]

ive called landstrumm,begg,forshaw & your tunes Mark 'Wonk' since the sound was intoduced to me 3 years back and described as 'Wonky', I liked what I heard and looked up Wonky Techno on the internet, and have since bought shitloads of records by all the artists mentioned that might be classed as 'wonk'....I think sometimes a diffrent take on a sound needs to be described, as happens with everything from DnB & Hardcore, I mean there must be about 9 or 10 diffrent terms for Hardcore....I understand it might piss you off as an artist to be labelled something you may feel your not, but look at it in a positive light that some people like myself may discover artists we might never have looked for previously, but have found due to them being labelled under a certain sound....its all swings and roundabouts innit

[crime]

ive called your tunes Mark 'Wonk' since the sound was intoduced to me 3 years back and described as 'Wonky',

please don't, my music is not "wonk"..

[crime]

:cheese: maybe you should of called them " this is wonky vol1 and 2"

hiya mark long time mate :cheese:

very droll rowland, very droll ;)
you need to come for a visit Polska side, let me know if they book you for sopot/Gdansk/Gdynia again, this is my current hood, I'll stop out for a drink :P

[rowland the bastard]

:cheese: maybe you should of called them " this is wonky vol1 and 2"

hiya mark long time mate :cheese:

very droll rowland, very droll ;)
you need to come for a visit Polska side, let me know if they book you for sopot/Gdansk/Gdynia again, this is my current hood, I'll stop out for a drink :P

you in poland now mate? you got yourself a polish lady then :cheese: ;)

[FUSION]

cant beat a bit of wonk

[thetonewrecka]

The freaks come out at night..the freaks come out at night.
You can't beat a bit of Whodini either!

[The Overfiend]

f
r
e
s
h

Fresh Fresh Fresh
Yo That's Fresh.

[Dustin Zahn]

Paul Birken is the king of wonk. :)

[crime]

you in poland now mate? you got yourself a polish lady then :cheese: ;)

yeah, got a nice flat here, studio here & I'm by the sea...
life is good :cheese: